Congressmen pledged their help, a state legislator promised reform and the media made the World War I veteran, 95, an instant celebrity after learning he was about to be thrown out of a Hollywood nursing home because his veteran`s benefits made him ineligible for state aid.

A little-known bureaucratic rule had forced Bianchi`s Medicaid to be cut off because his Veterans Administration benefits were too high, leaving him unable to pay for his care.

After the News/Sun-Sentinel published a story last March about the wheelchair-bound veteran`s plight, a local health maintenance organization temporarily picked up part of the tab while legislators said they would work to change the law.

Today, no legislation has been passed to aid Bianchi or the hundreds of other Florida veterans caught up in a similar bureaucratic web.

The HMO has stopping making payments.

And once again, Bianchi is relying on the kindness of strangers to keep him in the home he loves.

``I feel terrible because the issue had so much attention and Marty represented a whole lot of people out there, but nothing has happened and the whole thing just faded away,`` said Karen Kallen, administrator of the Hollywood Hills Nursing Home, where Bianchi shares a room with his best friend, Victor Atwell, 90.

Bianchi, a smiling man with a thick accent, knows nothing about his precarious financial situation.

``I like it here and wouldn`t leave,`` he says. ``Victor and I are buddies.``

At least 50 other Broward veterans or their widows have faced the same situation, as have hundreds of others across the state, according to George Stilman, chief of Broward County Veterans Affairs.

``These are people who can`t afford to pay,`` Stilman said. ``Why throw somebody out of a home because of some asinine regulation?

``It makes me so sad to see all these people. They`ve used up their whole life savings. Medicaid won`t take them in because they`re over the cap. It`s a tough situation. All these people are caught in limbo.``

After the Bianchi story was published last year, Kallen said she received calls from the offices of U.S. Reps. Larry Smith, D-Hollywood, and Dan Mica, D-Lake Worth, and a pledge of assistance from then-State Rep. Tom Armstrong, D-Plantation.

Armstrong did not propose legislation at the state level and later gave up his seat when he made an unsuccessful bid for the Senate.

Smith said on Friday that he was surprised to discover nothing had been done to resolve the problem and promised to look into it at the federal and state level immediately, said Gary Edwards, his Washington spokesman.

Mica, a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, is working on legislation that would prohibit Medicaid from cutting off aid to a veteran because of VA increases, said Diane Birnbaum, his district administrator.

The problem for veterans like Bianchi is that the state requires them to accept increased VA payments, which can instantly cut off Medicaid -- a state- paid health care program.

In Bianchi`s case, he had been receiving a total of $554 in VA benefits and Social Security when his bills were being paid for by Medicaid, records show.

But under Medicaid rules, Bianchi was forced to apply last year for an improved pension plan and for aid and attendance allowance -- maximum benefits received by veterans who live in nursing homes.

This boosted Bianchi`s income to more than $1,200 a month -- which was more than the $870 a month eligibility cap allowed by Medicaid.

So Bianchi was left without enough private money to pay the $1,700 a month tab and with no Medicaid.

United American Health Inc., a Fort Lauderdale HMO, temporarily picked up the $550 monthly payment the veteran needed to stay in the home. It offered to help out for six months but ended up paying a year.

But now it falls on the nursing home to pay the difference. Kallen said she decided to do so because she did not want to throw the elderly veteran out onto the street.

``Marty wants to stay,`` Kallen said. ``This is his home. The real problem is with all those other veterans out there who aren`t as fortunate.